I was a little hard on J Street in my last post. Oh well. At least they're trying. Without recanting my position, here are some extenuating points.
Donna Edwards, a freshman congressperson from Maryland endorsed by J Street, has a moderately appealing statement on Gaza, here:
of Gaza, the United States must work actively for an immediate
ceasefire that ends the violence, stops the rockets, and removes the
blockade of Gaza.
At least she's mentioning the "blockade." About time. So if J Street is giving her backup, good.
For another thing, J Street is of the Jewish community, and all the leaders of that community are "My country right or wrong," and that country isn't the U.S. Here is Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the head of the Union for Reform Judaism, attacking J Street's statements in the Forward.
These words are deeply distressing because they are morally
deficient, profoundly out of touch with Jewish sentiment and also
appallingly naïve….
circumstances: I checked with my closest Israeli friends, who are all
left of center, haters of war and ferocious opponents of the West Bank
settlement movement. In virtually every case, they saw the action in
Gaza as tragic but necessary and were astounded by the opposition of
American doves.
Isn't that dual loyalty, when you check all your opinions with foreigners? Now, here's Jack Ross defending J Street:
to me. I can see where the difference in emphasis is, but it still gets
the point across. And it was the second statement no less and maybe
even more than the first which drew the ire of Eric Yoffie,
whose nauseating and pathetic posture of being a "realistic dove" is
far more representative of the danger you nonetheless very aptly
describe.
Yes, J Street is still lobbying the lobby, and yes,
they and their various allies still represent a minority, but the tide
has still ineluctably turned. It seems the Israelis have begun to step
back from the brink a second time, and now the real fallout will begin.
Your
other story about Barbara Starr I found very significant and
promising in this respect. I've always rightly or wrongly considered
her a very grating Pentagon mouthpiece, which if so makes it especially promising if she therefore is speaking for Bob Gates against escalation.
